A couple of questions concerning universities, degrees and extracurriculars

Hello everyone,
I'm 15 so I have a while until I apply to university.
My goal is to do modern languages at Cambridge. Would this be a good degree for a way into investment banking?

If I didn't get into Cambridge but I went to another target university then would I be better off studying something else instead or would it still be ok to do modern languages? I'm good at maths too but not good enough for Cambridge.

Also since this is quite early, what advice do you have concerning extracurricular activities? I'm not sporty or musical. So far all I have are pupil council, helping out at school open evenings and next year our school are organizing work experience in Germany. I used to do running but stopped 3/4 years ago so I guess that's irrelevant now. What else can I do?

I don't think I could get any work experience as I have no family members or friends of family members who work in banks.

Any advice is appreciated.

yes




modern languages is absolutely fine. maths within investment banking is not that difficult i.e percentage changes / division / ratios are as complex as things get. a decent GCSE grade should suffice in terms of the technilicaties.. mainly to get passed the online numerical screening tests (which aren't that difficult in all honesty)




whatever you enjoy, at your age i used to be an avid fan of roller skating, and started my own roller skating team. in one of my final round interview i spent 30 mins with the interviewer talking about how i developed an interest in skating. the goal with extra-curriculars is that you're an interesting person, no-one wants to spend their days with someone who is boring.

don't tailor extra-curriculars just so you can get a job in banking, do whatever you want to do.. enjoy it, have fun and excel. that shows dedication




it's incredibly early for work experience, although once you're in 6th form/college definitely apply to some insight events to get a flavour of what banking is like.

here's a cool page that neatly summarises the places you could apply for:
http://www.studentladder.co.uk/gcse/banking.html

if you're a london student also apply to programmes such as SEO and Brokerage..

hope that helps. it's nice to see that you're looking ahead, you seem to have the right mindset and attitude.